A Warrior's Path
by RedHunter87
Summary: AU: Chi-Chi dies giving birth to Gohan, leaving Goku alone to raise him. This is the story of Gohan who follows his father's footsteps down the warrior's path and who sets out to become the greatest defender that Earth has ever seen. Co-Written by Chemistry-Deaf. Chapter 1 updated and chapter 2 was totally rewritten.
1. Chapter 1-A Death in the Family

**Saiyan Saga**

**Chapter 1-A Death in the Family**

* * *

_**Updated: 4-9-2014**_

* * *

_Disclaimer: We don't own DBZ, nor are we making any profit off of this story._

* * *

**The multiverse is a massive place, spinning the same story in unlimited different ways. In one universe Gohan is born to two loving parents. He fights some, studies a lot and dies of old age with his wife, children and grand children at his side. This is the universe known as Dragonball Z. Another Gohan universe had him become the most powerful warrior but at the cost of being alone and having no children. In another universe Gohan becomes a Majin instead of Vegeta. **

**In this universe whose story we will relate to you the tale is different from all the rest. For in this universe the one constant for Gohan is removed, Chi-Chi dies. One change and things will never be the same. **

* * *

_Age 757, May 2nd _

"I need 50 CC of blood stat!", the doctor told the attending midwife. He had known that it was a bad idea to allow a home birth, but Chi-Chi had insisted and offered him a large amount of zeni. Having medical school debt to pay off, he had accepted.

The midwife handed over a bag with the blood, type O blood, able to be used by anybody and thus needed when the person's blood type was unknown.

"What's wrong with my little girl!" the Ox King fragrantly shouted as he crowded near the doctor to see what was wrong with Chi-Chi.

"Sir please step back, we need room to work. She's just having a bit of trouble with the birth, it's nothing we can't fix if you just give us space", the doctor spoke with a calming tone in attempts to relieve the Ox King's stress. In reality the doctor was lying through his teeth.

This wasn't some minor problem. Chi-Chi was bleeding excessively, and this would affect her health and her baby. In the worst case, both were going to die. The doctor feared the worst scenario was approaching fast. He had no idea how this happened other than the fact the first 12 hours of labor had gone fine. Then complications arose just as the baby was crowning. He figured that he had 20 minutes or half an hour tops before he had to cut into her to save the baby. The fact was the mother had a slimmer chance of survival than the baby was scary enough, but telling that to a guy who could rip him in half without even trying was the worst idea. Without the doctor around, both would surely die. "Where is her husband anyway? Shouldn't he be here for this?"

Ox King gave the doctor a considering look before answering. "He's out…taking care of some things..." the Ox King lied; he was very well aware telling anyone who didn't know Goku that he was out training would sound ridiculous.

"Like what? What's more important than being at the side of your wife while she gives birth?", the doctor shook his head. There was just no accounting for some family members. He had a feeling that the husband would wish he had been here, since his wife was on the verge of death.

"He...ah...he doesn't exactly understand things like this. Goku's a good man, although he's simple minded about a lot of things, but he takes good care of my Chi-Chi and that's what's important."

* * *

Goku looked up from his training in the woods near his house, sensing a problem in his wife's ki. Was she under attack? No, there's no overly strong power level near her. He was well aware that the doctor was there, and he left once the doctor arrived. He didn't enjoy what doctors do to people particularly anything involving a needle. Somehow, he failed to realize or understand that doctors were not all about needles. Regardless, Chi-Chi was giving birth, and she told him he was going to be a dad soon. According to the doctors, he was going to have a son. The confusing part was if she was in a comfortable place away from danger then why was her ki fluctuating all over the place?

He better go see what was going on, and if need be he had a Senzu bean he could give her. Goku considered calling for his Nimbus Cloud, but decided against it. It was much quicker to travel by foot considering how close he was. Goku hurried home, bursting through the door. He took notice of Chi-Chi laying spread out in bed, clutching her sheets weakly, and he did a double take at the amount of blood around her. He didn't know the first thing about giving birth, but surely you didn't lose enough to blood to risk your life while it happened. "Doctor what's wrong with her?"

The doctor glanced at Goku the moment he burst through, noting all the dirt and grime covering the man. Before he could comment, the machines hooked up to Chi-Chi started to beep urgently. "Step back out of the room and stay quiet. We can't allow the dirt covering you to infect her at this critical stage of birth," the doctor told him as he turned back to Chi-Chi. This was a positive change because the baby was coming out despite how terrible everything must seem. This was exactly what the doctor wanted for both of them having a chance to live. He was getting ready to deliver the baby when another sound caught his attention. It wasn't what he wanted to hear because the machines monitoring her life signs beeped in a warning tone. She was bleeding out.

The doctor and the midwife rapidly worked to stop the bleeding for many long minutes, but to no avail. At this point they would be lucky to save the baby. He turned to Goku who despite his earlier instructions was still in the room and was hovering behind him looking on. "Can we have a word outside?"

Goku jumped at the doctor's voice and looked scared, but he slowly nodded and followed the doctor out into the hallway. Goku closed the door behind them and faced the weary doctor. "You have the right to know what's going on, and I'm sorry. Your wife had complications that we done our best to fix, but," he took a deep breath, "she doesn't have long left to live."

Goku stared at the man as the realization of his wife impending death hit him. Slowly, he made his mouth open to talk. "Why? I-I don't understand. She's dying?"

The doctor released a sad sigh before speaking, "She lost too much blood. The transfusion was unable to keep up, and she was losing more blood than gaining. I am very sorry, but there's even less hope for the baby to survive with the mother dying."

Goku took a shaky breath before saying "Well… shouldn't you be in there trying to save them?"

The doctor looked straight into his eyes and said, "I been doing that for the last 2 or 3 hours with no success. We have done all that we can, but her body wasn't strong enough. I'm sorry, Mr. Son. The reason I'm telling this to you right now is that you need to go console her. She won't last any longer and it's best for all of us if you stand by her side. Make her happy that she's not dying alone however you can. Comfort her in her last moments she has left."

Goku saw the honesty and sincerely of the doctor and nodded. He went back to the room with the doctor following him. The Ox King was nearby and heard the news of the likely death of his daughter and grandson. He burst out of the house in tears.

Goku looked at his wife and walked around a midwife to Chi-Chi's side. He knelt down and softly held her hand in his. He gave a small sad smile and said, "Hey, honey…"

Chi-Chi slowly moved her head towards Goku and gave him a smile. Her pale lips trembled at the effort and said, "Hi... sweetie…"

Goku swallowed the lump in his throat. "You're, uh, doing great."

Chi-Chi's chuckle was very quiet, so quiet that at first Goku thought he had imagined it. "You're a terrible liar."

Goku grimaced and looked away. "I'm so sorry, Chi-Chi. I did this to you…"

"Nonsense, Goku. You have given me … the greatest gift I could ask for. There's no reason … for you to feel bad about … my condition. It does … happen." She took a shaky breath before continuing. "I need you to ... do me a favor."

Goku lifted his head and quickly said "Anything honey," as he leaned closer to her.

"I… I need you to raise our child for me…while I'm gone."

Goku shook his head with wide eyes and nearly shouted "No honey! I brought a-" his words were cut off as Chi-chi released a deafening scream.

The midwife shouted, "Keep pushing!" as she knelt down to catch the birthing baby.

Goku had wide eyes as he stared at his wife. He had no idea that his wife could scream so loud, not even when she would shout at him for eating the food out of the fridge raw.

The doctor had been monitoring the machines when Chi-Chi screamed. He turned away and made sure everything was ready for the baby.

The midwife called out, "He's halfway out! Just a few more minutes of pushing! Do it for your baby. His odds of survival go way up if we don't have to cut him out."

Chi-Chi groaned from both the pain and the effort. Despite the blood lost, Goku was surprised by how well she was gripping his hand. He barely heard her say, "Goku…" He leaned in to hear his wife better, but she couldn't talk.

The doctor looked over to the grubby man kneeling beside his wife. He heard Goku whispering to her and figured he may be promising her that she won't die or taking care of their child. At this stage of birth, it would be a miracle if she survived, but he knew how impossible and slim that chance was. If she died before she finished giving birth, than for the baby, he feared the worst.

"He's almost fully out!" the midwife shouted.

The doctor turned his full attention to the midwife and the baby.

Chi-Chi screamed one final time for the last push to finish the birth of her son. She soon relaxed with a tired smile on her face.

"Chi-Chi," Goku called to her softly. "I'm here, honey." She slowly rolled over and faced her husband as he continued, "I have a Senzu bean. Please take it!" He pulled the bean out of the bag tied to his waist. He intended to give it to her while the doctor was distracted with the baby.

"The baby's heartbeat is missing!" the midwife said in dismay. In reality, the baby's heartbeat was very faint and hadn't taken a breath on his own. She was trying to keep him alive by forcing breath in his body and pumping his heart. She was so focused in her task that the distinct tail attached to the top of the boys bottom escaped her notice.

"Goku, you have to … please save our son," Chi-Chi pleaded weakly to her husband. There was no way she was going to let her effort go to waste because Goku preferred to have her alive over their son. "Give him the bean. … Don't worry about me."

"But Chi-Chi…," Goku began to protest.

"Goku, please … do it for me. … I have already done the hard part … I-if I survive while he died … if there's a chance … to save one of us … I would rather to have him live. I … I would be very upset if you don't," she managed to tell him as her breath grew fainter and fainter with each passing moment. Goku was no stranger to death. He knew she already accepted it and would be happier if their baby survived. Her ki was dropping lower throughout the birth and become nearly nonexistent at this point. Goku wasn't ready to lose Chi-Chi and wanted to save her much more than the baby she birthed, but his wife would make his life hell if he didn't honor her dying wish.

With tears streaming down his face, Goku used the moment the midwife was pumping the baby's heart to slip in the Senzu bean. The bean was already crushed, so the baby could swallow it. The closed eyes of the baby snapped open and a loud wail erupted.

The midwife thought she was going to get a heart attack.

The doctor snapped out of his dumbfounded stance and took the baby. He checked him over for signs of health and possible damage.

The midwife took a clean sheet and covered Chi-Chi.

Once the baby calmed down from the doctor's gentle rocking motion, the baby's cries quieted and slept.

Strange, the doctor thought, the baby hadn't been breathing earlier and now he's in perfect health. Then he noticed what appeared to be a tail wrapped around his wrist. He turned his attention to the crying father of the child. "Mr. Son," he said. Goku looked up as he wiped up his tears. "Your little boy is going to be fine. I noticed he have a tail for some reason. If you would like, I can remove it. It will be pretty painless."

Goku shook his head, still in shock over his wife's death. "No, I had a tail as a boy too, let him keep it…"

"This man also had a tail as a child?" the doctor thought. "Then, it would explain why the little boy has it. It was his genetics."

The doctor looked at the slumped figure of Goku with concern before saying, "I'm sorry for your loss … Your wife did well in bringing the child into the world. I wish I could have saved her as well." He looked down at the baby in his arms and saw him awake and cheery. The doctor smiled at the little boy and glanced at Goku. "Would you like to hold your child?"

Goku looked up at the doctor who was offering his son wrapped in a blanket. The doctor saw a confused expression and quickly figured out that Goku had no idea how to hold a child. He showed him the proper way to hold a baby and helped Goku to adjust his hold with his son. "Bring him in 2 weeks for his first checkup. Here is a capsule. Inside are a list of things you will need to do daily with your child and the items you will need. This will get you through 2 weeks. It also includes instructions about what to watch for in terms of your child being a healthy baby. If he has any problems, bring him to me right away. Do you want us to make the arrangements to take care of your wife's body for you?" When Goku nodded, the doctor motioned the midwife and the nurse to take out Chi-Chi's body, leaving Goku alone. He was enthralled by his son.

The crib was set up a long time ago during Chi-Chi's pregnancy as well as some of the other child items necessary. Goku walked to the crib and placed his son down gently. His tears dried up as he forced himself to focus on the things that had to be done right now. He didn't know the first thing about taking care of a baby because he had assumed that Chi-Chi would handle most of it, but she was gone. He was alone with their son. Goku knew that he had to do his best in raising the child Chi-Chi left for him to honor her, and for the sake of his son who would never know his mother. Then, a realization hit him. The Dragon Balls could be used to wish her back! Now he knows who to contact. He grabbed the phone off the wall, and dialed Bulma's number using her direct line to bypass the normal Capsule Corp phone system.

She picked up on the third ring as Goku paced back and forth across the room.

"Hello, this is Bulma speaking."

"Hi, Bulma."

"Goku? Is that you? Wow, it's been a long time!" Bulma voice lit up from hearing her friend, but she noticed something off with his voice. "How are you? How's Chi-Chi?"

"Horrible," Goku managed to say after a few moments. "Chi-Chi … she's dead."

"…What!?" Bulma screamed which caused Goku to wince. "How? What happened?"

Goku slowly answered, "S-she died … giving birth … to our son."

The line got very quiet as Bulma tried to process what Goku had told her. Once she came to the conclusion that Goku told her that Chi-Chi died in childbirth, so many questions started to flood her head. She pushed them aside and answered, "Oh my Kami, Goku. I'm so sorry to hear that. Is there anything I could do to help?"

"Yes," Goku told her as he paced back and forth. "What I want you to do is bring me the radar, so I can search for the dragon balls and wish Chi-Chi back. I would need you to … um … arrange for the baby to be taken care of while I'm gone," Goku explained. He didn't believe he could raise the child on his own and knew he needed help. He was feeling rather hopeful at the thought of wishing back his wife, and the idea was acting like a tonic for his grief.

He didn't notice the silence on the other end until Bulma spoke again. "I-I don't think that wish is going to work. I'm sorry to tell you this, Goku, but I did research their limits. … The dragon can't revive someone who died a natural death. From what you told me, Chi-Chi died at childbirth which is a natural death, so … I am really sorry, but the dragon balls can't bring her back." She heard a sudden crash on the other end of the phone. "Goku? What was that?"

Faintly, she heard him say, "I… I can't bring her back. She's … she's gone. Really gone…"

"Goku?!" Bulma shouted louder hoping Goku would get back on the phone.

"I-I'm …fine," Goku told her on the phone. He had lost his balance at the news and nearly dropped the phone. Bulma's shouting caught his attention and he moved the phone back to his ear. "I fell." Fresh tears streamed down his already muddy face. The only reason he had been so calm was because he had assumed that Chi-Chi could be resurrected. With that hope dashed, he was lost and had no idea what to do. Bulma waited quietly as Goku sobbed. Her eyes were beginning to moisten from her friend's pain. She had considered Chi-Chi as a friend though they weren't very close, so the news of her death saddened her. To hear her best friend cry like this over the phone was heartbreaking. She never heard him cry like this. When they got married, Bulma had honestly thought that he had been too naive to actually understand what it had meant. It seemed their time together had made him love her.

"…Goku? …Goku, please listen… I can't fully understand your pain … but you have a child to care for. … That child will need someone to take care of him meaning you. He needs his father."

"B-but," Goku stammered as he wiped up his tears. "I-I don't … I don't know how to… be a father."

Bulma sighed and continued, "I'll help you." She was very aware of how clueless Goku can be, and that's dangerous with a child. She didn't care what she had to do because she does want to help Goku in his time of need, and she can serve a motherly figure to his son. "I'm not doing anything anything more important then helping you, so I'm coming over. So, stay there and … um … makes sure your baby is well, and uh … doesn't do anything … well, bad." She hung up the phone and went to the one person who would know what to do in this crisis: her mother. She was the one who raised Bulma, and could give the bests advice that would help Goku out as well.

* * *

Goku waited nervously in the living room for Bulma as the baby slept. His mind kept repeating the fact that didn't know the first thing about how to raise a child. Somewhere in his straightforward thinking, he realized that he had no idea what his child's name should be. He couldn't come up with one other than Gohan, his grandfather. He calmed down when he realized if he called his son Gohan, he would do his best to take care of him. Just as he decided on the name Gohan for his son, Bulma arrived.

"Goku," she said when he saw him. It was obvious to her that Goku was unsure what to do, but she could see his determination to make this work. She immediately gave him a hug and said, "You will do fine. Don't worry, I will help you in any way I can."

"Thanks, Bulma," Goku replied. "I need this." They broke the hug. "What do you have for me?"

"Not much, but could I see the baby?"

"Yes, sure. He's sleeping in the crib." He showed her where the crib is. She cooed at the sleeping baby.

"Did the doctor say or give you anything?"

"Yes, he did. Gohan need a check up at the end of two weeks and a capsule with everything I needed during those two weeks."

"Gohan?"

"That's the baby's name."

"That's a cute name. Can I see the capsule?" Goku hand over the capsule, and Bulma moved to the living room. She did not want the noise to wake the baby as she tossed it. The smoke cleared to show diapers, formulas, bottle, instructions, and clothes. "The doctor is pretty through. Do you know how to read?"

"A little."

She sighed. She should have expected this. "Okay, I will help you out these two weeks. Afterwords, you got to learn how to take care of him and call me when you needed help. Understood?"

"I understand, Bulma. It's just so fast. It happened so fast." Bulma patted a comforting hand on Goku's shoulder as sobs started. He leaned towards the touch as Bulma wondered how she could teach him how to raise his child. A wail interrupted her thinking. She may as well start now.

* * *

The next two weeks, Bulma came by everyday to help Goku learn how to make the formula, change diapers, and give proper general attention to the baby. Goku was surprised to learn how exhausting it was to raise baby Gohan. He couldn't train unless Gohan was looked after; he slept odd hours to catch up miss sleep at night, and eating simple food that he could make.

He still missed his wife, but the life she gave birth to he will take care of him. The funeral was set up a month later, so it gave Goku time to adjust living with his son. When the funeral started, he left Gohan in care of Bulma's mother as he attended with Bulma. His other friends also showed up to the funeral. They were surprised to learn what caused her death and that Goku learning how to raise a son. At the end, they apologized for his loss and wished him best luck in raising Gohan. They bid Goku to visit them and bring Gohan with him.

The year went by silently as Goku saw Gohan reach some achievements. Gohan could babble and said some first words, crawl, and hold the bottle himself. He could sense the power within his son's body and couldn't wait to train him. Bulma was strict in telling him that Gohan had to learn how to walk first before any training can begin. Goku decided that he could be patient.

Speaking of Bulma she helped out with their financial problems since Goku don't have a job and didn't understand what a job even was. The Ox-King eventually took over that role when he moved past his daughter's death and helped Goku in raising Gohan. She also gave permission to Goku to train Gohan at two and a half years old.

Goku had been trying to convince Bulma to allow him to train Gohan ever since he could walk at two years old. It took him nearly six months, but he was happy to finally train him. He couldn't understand the need to wait longer for Gohan's training. Being a good father, he started off gentle and taught him endurance, some movements, and exploring the woods. Then he moved on to teaching basic martial arts, flight and Ki sensing.

As Gohan grew, Goku was pleased in his son's development. He was also surprised by his son's cooking skills as well. Apparently, Bulma had been teaching him whenever she showed up to check on them. It didn't matter to Goku. He was very pleased that his wife made him take care of their son.

* * *

Goku had forgotten about his rival living in the wastelands due to the death of his wife and raising Gohan. In turn, his rival hadn't forgotten him. It was hard to forget the humiliation and the grudging fact Goku had saved his life. He hated it, but it was the only thing fueling him further. There was absolutely no way Goku could be stronger or smarter than him. It was nothing short of insulting.

Despite the hate and rage against his rival, he had matured. During the martial arts tournament, he had been an arrogant, egotistical child that underestimated his opponent far too much. It had bit back at him hard, and he refused to allow that to happen again.

He perfected his technique, come up with killer strategies and attacks, and most of all, learn more about his opponent to better defeat him. The advantage was that he could perfect his masking his ki and learn how to sneak on someone or detecting someone approaching him. That also created a disadvantage. He couldn't practice his ki attacks, only his movements, and meditate. He balanced it out with walking as far enough away to avoid detection before flying to a new area to train and returning the same way.

That was how he first found out that Goku had a kid. He was aware that the human's had a custom of having a partner and somehow having children. He didn't find out how nor did he want to. If his father spitting out eggs was gross to them, he didn't want to know if their reproduction would gross out him. What he found odd was Goku's mate was gone and in her place was the baby. While it confused him, there was another thing bothering him. The baby was obnoxious. Those sounds it makes particularly crying made his ears bleed. He was also disgusted by how Goku behaved around it as well. Annoyed to hell by all of this, he left for a long time.

When he came back two years later the baby had become a child, a toddler to be exact. Goku was teaching this child how to do the basic fighting stances, but nothing impressive was happening. Good this time taken caring for the child would hinder his rivals training. Piccolo was quite pleased by this and redoubled his training in an effort to pull ahead.

Over the next two years Piccolo checked in every couple of days on Goku and his son. It became a retinue and Goku never bothered to check to see if anyone was watching him. It was like he had totally forgotten him, and that his son was the only thing in the world that matter. Disgusting, this human concept of love. Love for someone that couldn't be helpful in any way. Weakness like love only held fighters back.

Piccolo noticed how rusty he was getting in hiding his ki as time passed and resolved to train harder at it. If Goku hadn't been so distracted training this child, chances are he would have noticed he was being watched by now. As he struggled to keep his ki under control, his acute ears heard an unusual sound. Carefully and quietly, he maneuvered himself near the sound and discovered in mild amusement Goku was there. Above him was a nice branch and cover. He climbed up to the branch and watched.

He saw Goku in a small clearing with someone else. He couldn't see the second person from where he hid, but his pointed ears caught a conversation between Goku and the mysterious person.

"…increase your strength. I want to see how many times you can run from this rock to that tree and back without stopping. Can you do that, Gohan?" Goku asked.

"Yes, Daddy!" a high pitched voice responded. The hidden rival then remembered that Goku had a kid.

"Ready?"

"Hai!"

"…Go!" And, the boy was off. The hidden rival watched the four year run rather well once he was in view. His structure was of a 2 and half years old with short hair and a training outfit like Goku's. Piccolo also spotted the tail, the brat was growing strong with time passing. Goku's training was paying off, Piccolo had to admit. Still the child didn't seen to be learning any useful fighting skills.

To him, a brat was only a slight improvement compared to a baby. At least, he could tell a brat to shut the hell up and it would try since a baby just cry louder. The new development actually was a lot more positive in his view since he can now observe Goku however he pleased as he trained. That included his kid.

As time went on, Piccolo had conflicting feelings about the growing kid. He could see that the kid can one day be a powerful foe especially if both decided to take him down together. That was enough of a threat to encourage him to destroy the brat, but a warning voice in his head told him that Goku would have his hide. He relished the thought of seeing Goku in physical torment all because of the death of Goku's kid by his hand. He pictured Goku going from tear stricken sadness at the kid's death to pure rage at him for doing such a deed. It would be glorious to see him break.

Piccolo had to keep those fantasies for when he was away from Goku. He tended to get caught up in the moment such as laughing out loud or blowing things up. Those were not good to be doing when he was supposed to be undetected. Soon, he noticed how Goku allowed his brat more freedom as time goes on. Those freedoms were catching dinner, general playing or exploring, or training by himself. It was time to test his little runt.

* * *

A couple of days later he spotted Goku's son. Piccolo patiently waited for the brat to chase his dinner near to his spot. It amused him how close Goku's kid came to where he usually reside whenever he came to observe. This kid had explored every inch of the woods near his house, but knew nothing about the most important part, his hiding place. So, as he waited, he leaned on a large tree with his eyes closed. His large pointed ears kept him notified as well as his ki sensing.

Today, it seemed the brat was out of luck.

His ears picked up noises of vegetation being trampled by the boy and his prey. His eyes opened as the deer flew right by his hiding place. A second later, a small wild child sailed past. He looked like a mini Goku with his long hair in a pony tail. The kid didn't take notice of him.

"Come back here! I want to eat you!" he heard the kid call out at the deer.

Keeping his senses alert for Goku and keeping track of the kid, he followed much more silently. Despite himself, he was impressed by the kid's determination to catch the deer.

Luck wasn't on the kid side at all that day. He failed to catch and kill the deer, got himself lost, and was confronted by a pack of wolves. Piccolo seated himself in the branches and watched with interest. The kid got into a battle stance and watched the wolves circled around him. They growled at him.

Despite the danger, Gohan remembered his lessons in fighting and waited for the wolves to attack first. One went for his side. "Rock!" he shouted as he slammed his fist on the poor wolf's nose. "Paper!" he shouted next as his open palm slapped another wolf. "Scissors!" he shouted last and poked a third wolf right in the eyes. He kept to those three attacks and changed them around as the wolves attacked. He was successful in getting three of the four wolves to leave howling in pain. The last one was stronger and circled him slowly. Gohan kept watch and waited for an opening. The wolf growled and ran up to him. Gohan threw his strongest punch at the wolf only to meet air. The wolf jumped and landed on him. This frightened Gohan as the wolf leaned down to bite him. Without thinking or knowing what he was doing, his ki collected in his hands and fired.

The wolf yelped in pain and was thrown off of him.

As Gohan sat in shock of what happened, the wolf ran off, yelping. Excitement grew inside him. Wouldn't his father be proud of him when he showed that ki blast he did? He got up to run back home when a sound of a body landing near him. He turned with a grin thinking it was daddy and was graced with a mesh of purple, green, and white. It wasn't daddy.

"Impressive kid," the deep voice came.

He had never met someone with such a deep voice before. Then again, he didn't see people outside of Bluma, Goku, and his friends that occasionally dropped by. This man didn't look at all friendly compared to those he met.

"If you concentrated the blast more, you could have killed the wolf instead of injuring him."

"I don't want to kill him," Gohan answered. "It's not his fault that he decided to attack me." His face screwed up in a poor attempt to look serious. He barely reacted to a surprise punch from the man. "Wh- hey!" he shouted as he dodged another blow. Getting frustrated by the man's attempts to hurt him, he jumped to punch some sense in his head when his eye beams hit him.

They hurt! He fell to the ground on his back with light smoke coming off him. "Your reaction is good and you well placed defenses, but you don't have a decent attack strategy." He heard the man said to him. Was he testing him? As confusion started to clear up, the identity of the man came.

He had heard a lot from Goku and his friends in regard to the Great Demon King Piccolo. Most had a lot of bad things to say about him. Only Goku had something positive, and he trusted his daddy. The description mostly matched except for a few details. He hadn't killed him; he doesn't look all that ugly, so maybe they could be friends? He got up with some difficulty. "Are you the Great Demon King Piccolo I heard about?" he asked.

"I am his son," Piccolo replied with a sneer. "What did they say about me?"

"Lots of things though they weren't very nice," he replied and couldn't understand why Piccolo looked pleased by it. "But daddy said to give him a chance if I ever see him." The frown returned. "You're not here to kill me, are you? You're only testing me, right?" Gohan reasoned that if Piccolo wanted to kill he would have struck at him when his was down instead of telling him about the weakness in his fighting style. People only did that when they were training him.

Piccolo widened his eyes in shock by the kid's hopeful expression. He wanted to dash his hopefulness, but his actions only proved his words so far. He was happy to know that the kid knows some terrible things he did or say and hoped the kid got nightmares from them. He was then disturbed by Goku's positive attitude on the boy and lastly surprised. "Something like that. Since you heard all those terrible deeds I did, aren't you going to run away to your father?"

"No! I'm not weak, and I can take care of myself! Your scariness doesn't scare me!"

Piccolo was very impressed by the brat's courage to stand up against him. Not bothering to dwell on it, he replied, "So, I _don't _scare you?"

"Not at all, mister." Gohan was in fact at least a little bit scared, but he wasn't going to show it. Besides his daddy was really close by and Gohan believed that he could hold Piccolo off at least that long if Piccolo decided to try and kill him.

"I should. Who knows what I could do to you … or your father."

"My daddy is strong! He beat you in the Martial Tournament!"

"**Don't remind me!**"

Gohan flinched from the sudden outburst. He had unknowingly found Piccolo's sensitive spot. His tail curled around his body in a protective manner and he closed his eyes reflexively as he waited in anticipation of an attack. After a few moments of nothing, he opened his eyes and saw that Piccolo had vanished.

* * *

Piccolo had really wanted to attack that brat. He had no idea what stopped him and caused him to leave the brat there. After pacing furiously, he calmed down enough to meditate. Deep inside, an idea began to take seed and planted within his thought. As the mediation went on, a plan began to form around the idea.

His eyes snapped open as he focused back on Gohan's energy. He flew rapidly in that direction, dropping his power level to next to nothing before landing. Gohan was fishing. The boy had stayed and worked on catching dinner instead of running home to his father. Impressive. Despite being so young, he put finishing his task above any fears he might have. Yes, he could work with this for sure. "Still here I see."

Gohan spun around dropping the fish that he had just caught. "But how? I didn't sense your ki." He got into his fighting stance as he spoke.

"I can hide it. You know kid today is your lucky day." Piccolo noticed that despite being so young, Gohan had an almost perfect stance. The boy was clearly a rapid learner. He took after his father that way.

Gohan looked confused for a moment before smiling. "It is?"

"Yes it is. I was going to kill you. But I changed my mind."

Gohan almost couldn't believe it. "Really?"

"Yes. Instead, I will train you. I'm sure I can teach you things that your fool of a father wouldn't be able to." Piccolo noticed that Gohan didn't relax his stance at all. Good he wasn't a total fool, he wasn't taking him at his word. He was on guard for a sudden attack. This made him less of a fool then his father already.

Gohan scowled in response. "My daddy may be silly, but he's a great daddy!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, but under no circumstances were you to tell him that I am training you. Understood?" Piccolo cracked his knuckles together as he remained in the same relaxed stance. He wasn't worried about Gohan attacking him at all. The boy clearly had the same sense of honor that his father had. He would never attack first.

"Why not?" Gohan finally relaxed his stance.

"He and I don't get along well if you know what I mean."

"Okay, I guess, Mr. Piccolo."

"Don't call me "Mister"."

"What should I call you then?"

"You can call me Master Piccolo."

* * *

With that, the Demon King got a pupil. Every time Gohan got free play time in the woods,he ran off to search for Piccolo. He could only stay for a few hours at a time before Goku would start to look for him. Despite the short time each day, Piccolo made use of it. Gohan quickly learned how harsh and tough Piccolo was by how he never seemed to show mercy, instead pushing Gohan to his limits and beyond them. That didn't put a damper to his spirits. Instead, he enjoyed the challenge. His father never bothered to push him to his limits.

Piccolo could feel the kid's (he stopped calling him a brat after around a month had passed) enthusiasm and cheerful personality starting to affect him. For example, when Gohan would come for training, he would shout out, "Morning, Master Piccolo!" or "Hey, Master Piccolo!" depending on the time of day. At first, Piccolo would respond with a grunt of sorts. After nearly a month, he responded with "Hey, kid." He also found it odd that the kid would come running to him all in eagerness to learn. Most people would run away from him or approach him with the intention to kill. The few times that Gohan was able to stay with him longer, he would try to get him into all sorts of strange things like swimming or fishing. It was through this activity that he managed to teach him the beginnings of how to meditate as finishing usually involved a lot of waiting around. Normally he wouldn't attempt to teach someone so young this, but he had found Gohan to be an amazingly quick study.

* * *

_Two months later_

"It is called the Masenko." Piccolo said in answer to Gohan's question about the energy blast that he had just dodged. He wasn't much one for small talk, but he answered any question the boy had about fighting in detail. In this, he found that the boy was much more knowledgeable then any small child should be. He seemed to know the right questions to ask.

A weak Gohan wouldn't do him any good for his plans to take over the world. Doing so would be a lot easier with a strong right hand, and Gohan was perfect for that role. He would be once Piccolo could figure out a way to rid the boy of his silly beliefs about truth and goodness.

"Teach me please Master Piccolo." Gohan said, trying to do the blast stance from just seeing it once.

"Not like that kid. Watch me carefully." Piccolo raised both hands above his head linking his fingers together and focused energy. They were able to train to their full extent, because the first thing Piccolo had taught Gohan was how to hide his energy, making it seem like he was going about his usual stuff so that Goku didn't come running to check things out.

Gohan mimicked the stance perfectly upon seeing it a second time. He turned and fired a weak energy blast out. He turned and smiled at Piccolo as he dropped his hands down to his side.

"That was horrible brat," Piccolo told him, his referring to Gohan as a brat again a sign of how displeased he was. "Such a pathetic amount of energy. That will just get you killed in battle." How to best motivate him to do better? Ah of course. "You and everyone you care about. All, because you weren't strong enough."

Gohan scowled, something else he was learning to do by watching Piccolo. Doing the stance again he fired a large energy blast, resulting in several animals fleeing and the trees in the area being set on fire. Oh no! I killed some animals he thought. Acting on instinct he focused his energy into a wind blast to put the fire out.

"Very good kid. You just caught dinner," Piccolo said with an evil smirk as he pointed to a dead wolf that had been unable to escape the blast. "You even killed it correctly this time."

* * *

_One month later_

The small boy rolled under his father's punch, coming up in a crouch and released a ball of ki from his hand. Goku knocked the ki with the palm of his hand into the treeline. The birds scattered into the air from the destructive energy.

"Gohan that's amazing! When did you learn to control your ki like that?! And at only 4 years old too! You are way ahead of where I was when I was your age," Goku told Gohan. Goku learned how to manipulate ki at the age of 12 while he learned martial arts growing up. Unknown to Goku, Gohan had been improving by leaps and bounds ever since he met Piccolo. Goku didn't consider it much because he enjoyed training Gohan harder than before. What he did wonder was how come Gohan was suddenly very eager to learn everything he could from him. Gohan had seemed to like training before, but at times it felt like it was more that he was trying to please his father. Now Gohan threw himself into his training pushing himself hard every second he was at it. He didn't even like to take breaks anymore, and Goku had to force him to do so.

With that change in that past couple of months, Goku had to change tactics in their training. The spars between them had gotten a lot more serious, and Goku was beginning to see flashes of a vast hidden power his son possessed. "I bet if you drank the Ultra Divine Water to unlock your potential, you will be stronger than I."

Gohan smiled at his dad's praise. He knew all about Goku's quest for the Ultra Divine Water as well as many adventures and friends Goku had from his childhood. "Thank you, daddy," Gohan replied. He remembered the deal with Piccolo to not tell Goku where he learned how to throw energy blasts. He only wished that Goku and Piccolo could be friends if he could somehow tear down Piccolo's defenses. He hated lying to his daddy, but he had a promise to keep. Instead, he told a vague truth to Goku. "I was out getting dinner daddy, and a pack of wolves attacked me. At first, I was afraid and created it by luck. Then, I learned how to do it and kept practicing! Just like you always tell me to!"

In addition to being trained by his dad and in secret under Piccolo, Bulma did private lessons to broaden his education. Because of the private lessons, he was further along than a normal child at his age would be. Bulma was very pleased to teach such a bright kid like him, and he received a lot of praise about how special he was. He was a nice combination of power from his daddy and intelligence from his mommy. Gohan grew up listening to stories of how Chi-Chi wanted a smart son since he had no idea who she was. He was especially pleased to hear that she would be proud of him while watching from the Otherworld.

"Alright Gohan, I believe you're ready to try a new technique," Goku said as he showed the motion to Gohan. "Now, you hold your hands close together and move them to the side. Imagine me creating a ki ball within the space. As I increase the ki, I would say, "Ka-Me- Ha-Me". Then, I thrust outwards and finish shouting with "HA!"" He made sure to keep it slow, so Gohan can catch what's he's doing. He watched Gohan do the motion. He didn't need to correct him much since the attack was very simple. He displayed it for real when Gohan understood it. The blue beam of energy shot out of Goku's hands, mowing down the unlucky trees in its path. Animals that were lucky to avoid the blast fled from the falling trees.

"Daddy!" Gohan called disapprovingly. "You hurt the animals! That isn't very nice."

Goku used his classic Son's pose when he did something sheepishly stupid. He had tried to put as small of an amount of energy into the attack as possible, but misjudged how much energy he was putting in. Oh well the damage was done. "Sorry Gohan, guess I don't know my own strength sometimes," he said in between his laugh.

Gohan sighed and remembered the motion they practiced earlier. Goku had to correct him again before letting him continue. "Ka-Me," Gohan started to say as his ki formed in his hands. "Ha-Me," he continued as the ki increased. "HA!" It fizzled out much to his surprise. Goku explained that he didn't gather enough ki during the "Ha-Me" part and encouraged him to try again. Gohan put more concentration on his second try and managed to fire. His small beam of energy flew towards Goku who blocked it with his hand. The beam died upon impact.

Gohan's face changed into the expression of a joyful child and yelled out, "I did it! I did it!" as he jumped in excitement. Goku started to smile at his son's achievement when his ki sensing caught a big power level. Whoever it was was coming right where they were, and he felt the evil taint within that power. "D-dad-dy," Gohan said as fear laced in his voice. "W-who is that?"

"I … I don't know Gohan, but I want you to go inside the house." Goku noticed his son hadn't moved. "I mean now, Gohan! Go inside the house!"

Gohan jumped at his daddy's tone and nodded before scampering into the house.

* * *

_A/N: Thank you for reading our first chapter of A Warrior's Path. We like the idea of Gohan growing up as someone who wanted to follow in his father's footsteps rather than become a scholar like he did in canon. The issue is that Gohan doesn't like to fight, and that we believe is largely, because of Chi-Chi's influence. Remove her and things can change. We will be posting power levels at the end of the next chapter. There isn't a fixed date for each chapter as we each have other stories we are working on. In fact this one of two stories we are writing together. We will be posting each chapter as we are happy with it. We are currently searching for a beta reader for this story, if you would like to help us, please PM one of us._

_With the update, we rewrote the scenes between Piccolo and Gohan. We think that things will make a lot more sense now. _

_Oh for those who are wondering; the chapter title is a reference to Amazing Spider-man Issue 400 which features the death of Aunt May and has the same title. _

_A/N: Updated 4-9-2014: _


	2. Chapter 2-Not Ready to Die

**Saiyan Saga**

**Chapter 2-Not Ready To Die**

**Updated: 4-15-2014**

* * *

_A/N: Hello everyone, this is a rewrite of the chapter two we had put up first. We hope you enjoy it, and chapter three will be up soon. _

* * *

It looked like fortune was favoring him today Raditz thought as he flew through the air. The planet's three biggest power levels were all gathered in a single place. One of those had to be Kakarot. He could grab him, purge the planet quickly, and get off this miserable rock. Vegeta would be pleased by the rapid completion of his mission. Though why everyone was still alive he couldn't figure out, none of the power levels on this planet were more than even a small saiyan child could handle, especially once a full moon happened. When he first landed, some weak human had fired an explosive projectile device at him. He tried to return the shell so the human could try again, but that had resulted in killing him.

Raditz scouter beeped as he landed to see a man standing in front of a house nested in a mountain region. No not a human, Raditz thought as he took a second look. That was Kakarot standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. "Was he waiting on me? Impossible, how could he have known that I was coming? Still, this made things very simple. The other two power levels were unimportant. One had vanished inside that house though, the other was somewhere nearby," he thought. His scouter would warn him if they made a move. As he landed, he said, "Kakarot, so good to see you again after all these years. Why haven't you completed your mission to purge this planet?" He tapped his scouter to get an updated reading. 300. Not great, but to be expected on a planet as weak as this. "Surely none of the weaklings on this planet could give you trouble."

Goku looked at the newcomer with a puzzled expression. Who was this Kakarot and why was his mission to...purge all life on this planet...that couldn't be allowed. "Look I don't know who you are, but you have one chance to get off this planet, before I make you leave." Goku wasn't sure that he could back up his words, the power coming off this new foe was massive, but he also knew that he had to try. He wasn't about to stand by while the planet was purged, and he shifted into his fighting stance just in case. "My name is Goku, and this is my home. Now leave. Last chance."

Raditz shook his head at Goku's words. He must have hit his head or something and forgotten who he was. "You don't understand Kakarot. This planet is getting purged, and I need you to come with me because we need another saiyan to help us when we rebel against Frieza."

Goku had had enough talking, and he flew forward to attack Raditz, only to feel an elbow planted in the side of his gut as he doubled over clutching his middle. He hadn't even really seen Raditz move.

"You can't harm me Kakarot, you are way out of my league," Raditz said with his arms crossed over his chest. "Now let's start purging the planet. You can start with that house over there when you get back up."

"I...won't...Gohan...," Goku said as he struggled back to his feet. He was just going to have to raise his grave to defeat Raditz.

"Gohan, who is Gohan?" Raditz asked puzzled who his brother could have such an attachment to. Unless...was Gohan one of the other strong power levels in the area? Couldn't be unless... "Kakarot did you mate with one of the humans on this planet and have a child?" Saiyan hybrids were much prized for their power, but at the same time they were looked down upon. Since they weren't royal blood and because his hybrid might be powerful depending on the traits of the humans, Raditz thought that Vegeta might be pleased with having a 5th saiyan along for the ride. "You can bring him too. But you better start learning to obey. Prince Vegeta won't allow you to question his orders like I have allowed you to question mine."

"For my son and for the planet, I will defeat you," Goku vowed.

"Defeat me? You can't even touch me. Now stop being foolish, I am growing tired of this game Kakarot. If you make me kill you, I will take...," Raditz let his words trail off as his scouter beeped to indicate a strong power level directly behind him, one that was growing rapidly. He spun around to see a green warrior standing there.

"Piccolo?" Goku asked puzzled as to why his rival would be here.

Piccolo walked over to join Goku. "I will help you defeat him not because I care about being a hero, but because I can't rule a planet that has no life on it."

Goku grinned at him. He needed the help, and whatever Piccolo's reasons he would take it. He would do anything to protect his son and his home on Earth. "I accept," he told him. "But he is really strong and fast. I think I should get serious."

Raditz laughed at the both of them. "Your power levels are 300 and 275. My power level is 1,500. Even together you pose no...," once again Raditz saw his scouter beep, indicating rising power levels in front of him which first Kakarot and then the Namek started taking clothes off.

"You wear weighted training clothing as well Piccolo?" Goku asked as he took his outer shirt and boots off before taking his arm bands off.

"Of course, you don't think I would let you get an edge like that do you?" Piccolo replied as he took his cape and hat off, letting them fall to the ground.

"600 and 550. What is with this planet? The warriors can get stronger by taking their clothes off? How strange." Raditz refocused on the upcoming fight in front of him. "Bad choice Kakarot. Once I kill you and the green man, I will take your son with me when I leave this planet devoid of life."

"I won't let you," Goku told him as he got into his battle stance. Piccolo was already in his demon stance form. Raditz grinned as he appeared to vanish from their sights. Goku felt his presence behind him and barely put up a defense against an elbow jab. Piccolo caught a glimpse of Raditz next to Goku before he vanished. Then, he was aware of an arm putting him in a choke hold position.

Piccolo wasted no time in elbowing into Raditz ribs behind him and to his satisfaction, heard Raditz grunt. Raditz made a mistake of loosening his hold, and Piccolo slipped out. Piccolo then turned and blasted at Raditz. His attack went through air. Goku was already ready for Raditz next attack when he suddenly reappeared next to him. Goku caught his fist and was startled by the strength behind it.

Piccolo had sensed Raditz and leaped to attack. Raditz caught Piccolo's arm and slammed him against Goku. Both landed on the ground. Piccolo immediately got himself up as Goku slowly stood. "You two are quite resilient," Raditz commented.

"You expect us to be intimidated by your power?" Piccolo snarled.

"Yeah, together we can beat your sorry behind!" Goku added.

"You two are deluding yourselves," Raditz said with a chuckle. He allowed them to come and attack him without dodging; hoping that seeing how they can't defeat him much less a scratch would convince them of their doom. Goku and Piccolo gave all they got into their assault of punches and kick to somehow budge the Saiyan warrior. Raditz blocked some with ease while others did no harm to him.

Meanwhile, Piccolo was getting frustrated. He stopped his attack and took a step back to reorganize a plan. Goku didn't notice that Piccolo had briefly stepped out of the fight. He was getting angry and created some distance between him and Raditz. Raditz was curious what Goku was planning on doing.

Goku placed his hands beside him and created a glowing blue ball of ki. "Ka-," he started. "-me!" The glow started to increase in brightness as more ki was added.

"500, already? Impressive," Raditz said to himself as his scouter beeped.

"Ha-" The concentrated orb strained to be released. "-me!" Goku then positioned his hands with his palms facing Raditz. "HA!"

"750?" Raditz commented in mild surprise as the flying sphere came right at him.

Goku expected dust clouds to surround Raditz when it hit him. Instead, the light sphere flew upward and out of sight. Raditz had single handedly moved the Kamehameha Wave up to the sky.

"Impressive, brother. If you were smart as you were skilled, you may have damaged my armor with that attack," Raditz taunted as he checked for damage on his hand.

"Piccolo!" Goku yelled as he looked at his rival. "I could use some help right about now!"

"I have been "helping"," Piccolo retorted. "It seemed brute force isn't going to get us out of this mess."

Goku caught on what he meant and moved closer. "What do you have in mind?"

"Depends. Do you have any ace up in your sleeve?"

"Heh heh heh, well, that last attack was it. I don't have anything else."

"Aren't you useless. Well, it so happens that I do have one. But there's-"

"What are you two whispering over there?" Raditz interrupted. "Some form of a weak pathetic plan? I would love to hear it, but I would enjoy it more to see it fail after you attempt it against me!"

"…As I was saying, there's a problem. It requires five minutes to charge."

"Five minutes? Don't you have anything else?"

"I asked you that, and you didn't have one, so this is my only other option."

Goku sighed. "Fine. I'll give you time." He turned to face Raditz who was patiently waiting. "Raditz! Let's bring it on, tough guy!"

"Getting serious now? Can't wait to turn you into a punching bag." Raditz laughed.

Goku was a little disturbed by the truth of that statement. Standing firm, his eyes narrowed at the arrogant warrior. He made the first attack and aimed to punch his face in. Raditz didn't let him have his prize by disappearing and reappearing behind him. Goku felt a sharp pain on his back and cried out.

Raditz watched his younger brother fly a meter or so before landing painfully on the grass. He smirked as Goku struggled to get up. It was enough proof that Goku does have Saiyan blood no matter how much he denied it. He also knew that Saiyan's have tough body and he would live through most of the torture he planned on his little brother. At this moment, he didn't feel like giving him a chance again to attack.

Goku was barely in a kneeling position when a boot planted on his side roughly. The young Saiyan hit the ground hard on his back. His head spun. The fall hadn't given him any broken ribs, but he was convinced that at least one or two ribs had broken from the kick. Then a weight was added on his chest and constricting his insides.

Raditz relished his younger brother's scream as he slowly and carefully applied more pressure on his foot. Once he was done with this little weakling, he then can take care of the green man before he could fire the unsettling amount of power straight at him. His scouter had shown it to be around 640 and still climbing. He glanced at Goku who screams were slowly dying and out of frustration, stomped on the wounded ribs. He was rewarded by a more powerful scream.

Piccolo watched the whole thing without much empathy. It disturbed him that Raditz would steal his glory of killing Goku, but at least, he had the glory of killing the killer. The problem was, Goku still have to hold out for another 3 minutes. He glanced at the house where he noticed the kid's ki level while stable was erratic with emotion. A small smirk formed as he remembered how powerful the kid had gotten when properly angered. His only hope was that the kid would actually come out and help them.

Gohan was conflicted. He knew how strong the enemy was and how difficult his daddy and master were having against him. He really wanted to help, but his daddy's orders kept him in the house. He managed to patiently wait in the house until his daddy's screams fill the air. He disliked hearing the pain filled cries his daddy made and wanted to do something. The decision was made for him when his daddy's cries increased in volume and out the door he charged.

Raditz was jolted from his fun as a short thing hit him hard on the side. As he landed embarrassingly on his face, he couldn't wait to find out who hit him and wring his neck off. As he stood up, he saw a child, no wait, a Saiyan child based on the tail, in front of the wounded Kakarot. His scouter beeped as numbers scrolled across the screen. Power level 400. Amazing for a child his age, but not near enough to defeat him, and he wouldn't be caught off guard again.

"Impressive child. You will become a great warrior once you are away from these weaklings, and are trained by myself, Nappa and Prince Vegeta. Your father could have come with us, but he chooses to die with the rest of the weaklings on this planet."

"You hurt my daddy!" Gohan yelled as he charged forward, only to be easily swatted aside by Raditz.

Raditz followed up that attack with a blow to the neck of Gohan, intending to knock him out, but before he could follow through completely he felt his scouter beep as his tail was grabbed. He sunk to one knee looking back behind him. "Kakarot let go of my tail this instance!" he ordered as he groaned in weakness.

"No. You hurt my son. It is time for you to die even if you are really my brother. I gave you every chance to get off this planet, and you didn't take it," Goku stated as he increased the pressure on Raditz tail. He had been looking for a chance to grab his tail since he saw that they were outmatched by Raditz even fighting together. Gohan, though he had disobeyed had given that chance.

"That's quite an interesting weakness," Piccolo mumbled to himself before saying, "Good work, Goku! I only needed a little over two minutes!" Piccolo stated as kept his two fingers on his forehead as purple energy crackled and built up around them.

"I want to help Master Piccolo," Gohan said in a quiet voice to his mentor.

"Then charge up your strongest attack, and fire when I give the command," Piccolo told him.

"Hai!" Gohan said as he started to charge up an energy blast. His attack charged a lot quicker than Piccolo's did and he was struggling with holding all the energy he had built up together.

Goku noticed that Gohan had an attack ready. "Do it Gohan! He is weakened by me holding his tail. Don't worry about me, fire the attack! I don't know how much longer I can hold him."

Gohan wasn't sure about firing at his father, but he had faith in his dad and so he listened firing all of the energy that he had gathered up with a yell.

The blast hit Raditz head on, as he was unable to dodge with Goku holding his tail. When the smoke cleared Raditz was gone for a few seconds before he flashed back into view with a punch into Goku's gut.

The Saiyan father went down hard, and found that Raditz was standing over him. The warrior from the PTO had large parts of his armor missing, but was otherwise intact.

"How does it feel Kakarot, to know that your son is so weak that all he is good for is to make you let go of my tail?" He kicked Goku in the chest causing him to cry out in pain. "If you had..." he kicked again "any honor..." another kick "you wouldn't grab the tail of" the hardest kick yet causing Goku to spit up blood "a fellow Saiyan." Raditz proceeded to beat further on Goku, each kick shattering a rib and causing more blood to flow from Goku's mouth. Finally, Goku stopped struggling and Raditz charged energy for a finishing attack.

Meanwhile Gohan was recovering from expending a large amount of his energy into that attack. His father's anguish cries wormed its way into his soul and fed a fire he never knew he had. "Daddy no!" he cried out. Slowly anger started to build up inside him, anger and frustration at his inability to help his father out. Before he knew what he was doing, he was charging forward again as a bright white aura sprung up around him. "Leave...My...Daddy...Alone!" he yelled as he attacked Raditz.

Raditz saw this attack coming, and got his guard up in time, but it didn't matter as Gohan broke right through it, spinning him away with a kick to his face. His scouter beeped urgently as he rolled back to his feet. Gohan's power was climbing.

"500...800...1,000...1,200...1,500... 1,600. No how is that possible? He is more powerful then I am. Where is he getting all of this power from?" His thoughts were cut off as Gohan landed several blows to his chest, in an area where they armor had been blown off. He staggered back clutching at his chest. "Impossible...," he said as he sunk once again to one knee. That only opened him up for another kick to his face.

Gohan wasn't quite in control of what he was doing his anger dictating that he continue to pound on Raditz. Which wasn't the best way to go about defeating him, a large blast would have a better chance, but it took Gohan a couple of minutes to master to his anger enough to even attempt to back off and fire an energy bast. With a final combo he sent Raditz flying into a rock formation, and Gohan started to charge up energy for another Kamehameha.

If he wasn't so durable, his skull might have broken inward as well as some other damage. Through the dizziness, a constant beeping was starting to annoy him. Cracking an eye open, he saw a blur of green and yellow flashed at his left eye. His scouter had been warning him of two different ki sources powering up. Off to the side was the green man, but his rate of powering up was going down before stabilizing. That wasn't what kept his attention. In front of him was an angry kid ready to blast him into smithereens.

Gohan was too angry to keep a firm grip on his Kamehameha as he tried to keep it contained in his hands. He kept trying to pull more energy without realizing how empty he really was. His Kamehameha was erratic with energy and uncontrollable, and his anger clouded his judgment. Ready to blast this wicked man in front of him away, he attempted to move his palms forward. Just as the energy left his palms, he left empty and beyond exhausted. The lack of practice and control caused his attack to evaporate.

Raditz saw the energy attack the boy was charging up fizzle out as the boy dropped his hands and the white aura faded around him. It was clear that he was out of energy, and that he didn't know how to keep tapping into his great power. It was unusual to see such a powerful spike if his scouter hadn't recorded it. If he hadn't just lived it through it, he might not have believed it himself. But now the fight was... his thoughts cut off as a purple beam pierced his chest. What...where...had...that...the green...man...  
Raditz fell over clutching his chest, trying to steam the bleeding.

Piccolo moved forward slowly to check that Raditz was in fact down for the count. After how many twists and turns this battle had, he didn't want to take any chances. When he got close to Raditz he was shocked to see the warrior roll over and face him. Backing off slightly he raised his arms in defense. But the expression on the fallen foe's face was a combination of pain and malice.

"You... haven't...won..," he gasped, as he hacked up blood that went all over Piccolo. While Raditz was speaking in a low voice, Piccolo's ears had no problem picking his words up.

"Says the man with a hole in his chest. It sure looks like we won. Unless you plan to win by bleeding on me," Piccolo countered.

"One...year," Raditz coughed out. "That...is all you have left...enjoy it..."

Piccolo reached down and grabbed Raditz pulling him up closer to him. "What do you mean by us only have one year left?" He slapped the fading Raditz across the face to keep him focused. "Explain damn you."

Raditz coughed some more blood onto Piccolo before summoning the strength to finish explaining. He didn't want to die without letting his killer in on his doom. "My scouter...my fellow saiyans can hear and see everything that happened. They will be here in one year to avenge me. They are several times more powerful then I am. You have no chance in hell to beat them." With those words Raditz slumped in Piccolo's arms, dead.

"S***", Piccolo thought. He dropped Raditz like the worthless piece of garbage that he was and he looked around the battlefield. This "weakling" had taken the best the planet could throw at him, and almost won. Goku was knocked out at the moment. If it hadn't been for Gohan, he would have killed them all. Piccolo felt a flash of pride for Gohan, the boy was only that strong because of his intense training. But, that training was nothing like the training they would have to endure if they were to have any chance in a year's time. "Gohan, on your feet, now!" he barked at him.

Gohan struggled to his feet looking around. The battle was over, they had won! So why was Piccolo looking so intense then. "Yes Master Piccolo?"

"Our work isn't done. You need to get a Senzu bean for your father. We have a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it in..." he started to say more but he got cut off by a voice.

Gohan and Piccolo heard a voice speak in their head "This is a message to all the warriors on the planet. You are required at the Lookout for training."

Piccolo shook his head with further disgust. This was rapidly shaping up to be an even worse day then when Goku defeated him in his last battle. "Why would I ever come to visit you old man? You have nothing that you can offer me." He spoke in his head, knowing that Kami would be able to hear him.

Gohan looked on in wonder trying to figure out where the voice in his head was coming from until Piccolo gave him a glare, prompting him to go run and get the Senzu bean for his father.

Meanwhile up on the Lookout, Kami shook his head at Piccolo's statement. "That is where you are wrong. My training is the only chance this planet has of fighting off the coming invasion, and for you personally I can offer you power beyond your wildest dreams. But that is something I will explain to you personally once you get here."

Piccolo looked at the retreating Gohan before deciding. "Fine I will be there, but this better be worth it old man."

* * *

_A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the second chapter rewrite! Chapter 1 has also been rewritten._

* * *

_Reviews_

_enlyasurgeon_

_I really like this idea and your writing is really good. I can't wait for more!_

**Thank you. You have to wait no longer.**

_RasenKamehameha_

_Actually Gohan chose not to fight his self, Other than that great chapter im interested in if Veggie stays alive (I HOPE!) and if the others are more stronger than Canon i hope Gohan isnt overpowered_

**We disagree. We think that Chi-Chi is the main reason he didn't like to fight. We can't tell you anything about Vegeta, other then his role in the upcoming chapters is massive. You will see power levels at the bottom of each chapter from now on. Gohan will be exactly as strong as he deserves to be. If you consider him being stronger then he is in cannon overpowered, then he yes he will be, but this Gohan trains daily and willingly so he will be stronger. You will have to stay tuned to see exactly how much stronger. **

_CosmicWarrior1996_

_Great chapter, I can definitely see things going differently. Especially since Gohan is so strong already. If Goku still manages to get himself killed by Raditz, then Gohan will still get stronger than in canon because he wouldn't waste so much time by himself in the wild. If Goku lives, then things becoming interesting._

**Goku is alive so far. He has more to lose dying so he takes less risks. This version of Goku couldn't take a chance with letting go of Raditz's tail, unlike his canon counterpart. Throw in a stronger Gohan who is trained to fight some, and the fight was pretty straight forward. **

_Guest_

_I like it! Review-wise, I'd say watch your grammar and tenses.  
I love the concept of the story, and hope you update soon :)_

**Thank you, we are glad that people seem to be enjoying the concept of the story. We hadn't seen this done on the site, and RedHunter87 isn't a fan of how Chi-Chi interferes with Gohan training, so he came up with the idea of removing her for a story and seeing how that would change things. **

_Kid Goku Forever_

_Great starting chapter._

**We are glad you like it. **

_Cupcake_

_Amazing! Can't wait 2 read moar!_

**Your wish has been granted.**

_Guest_

_I love it I hope you keep up the good work :) I can't wait to read the next chapter. Anything that has Gohan following the path of a warrior is amazing in my book. I also like the detail you have put into each event_

**About the concept of Gohan becoming a warrior. We have seen a number of stories attempt this, and many of them haven't been done well in our view. Canon Gohan doesn't like to fight, because the influence of his mom pushing him to study instead of fight was greater then wanting to become strong like his father. Also from the time he was four to about eleven he was in one fight to the death after another. Gohan could have easily been the strongest fighter if he had trained properly. But removing Chi-Chi or changing something else after 11 years when Gohan has already come around to his mother's mindset, doesn't change the fact that he doesn't like fighting and never will. But we believe that with Chi-Chi having never been around, we can end up with a Gohan that enjoys fighting more as his father is his main influence.**

_Guest_

_Screw what the other guy say make him as overpowered as possible ;)_

**He won't be overpowered. He will be exactly as powerful as his training makes him.**

_horacioquinter0_

_ohhh this looks like an awesome story keep updating! :)_

**We are going to update this story as we finish the chapters. We are both committed to this story. We can't promise rapid updates, but we are working on each chapter as much as we can.**

_Marorin5_

_Awesome start! Poor Goku, losing Chi-Chi like that... You guys are right. Maybe, if Chi-Chi hadn't gotten the idea of becoming a scholar in his head, he may have liked to fight. It'll be interesting to see how Gohan will grow and become without Chi-Chi's influence. It's a nice touch Piccolo's been training Gohan secretly... How will Goku react? I'm guessing Goku, maybe Piccolo and of course Gohan are stronger than in canon, so they may stand a chance against Raditz. Hell, maybe they'll somehow manage to make Raditz join their side! Now that'll be cool. Gohan will now have an uncle! :3 (TFS Raditz: UNCLE RADITZ IS PISSED!) Heh. Anyways, hopefully the humans will be stronger as well, but that's your call. I think Gohan will be more confident in himself as he grows up. I wonder if Goku will die like in canon. I hope not. It'll be interesting and kinda funny to see Goku, Piccolo and Gohan training together in preparation for the Saiyans' attack. Hope you update soon guys! Keep it up! :)_

**We feel that is the case as well. As for how Goku will react to finding out that Piccolo has been training him, you will have to wait and see, the time isn't right to reveal that yet. Yes, a Gohan that fights changes everything, it was just enough so that Goku didn't have to give up his own life to kill Raditz. The humans will have their roles in this story. **

_RasenKamehameha_

_Why srew me ;(_

**The other review seems to want an overpowered Gohan. That won't be happening though. The power levels will (hopefully) make sense to our readers. We have worked hard on them. **

_Iceranger32_

_Awesome start sad that Chi-Chi died. You planning on pairing Goku up with Bulma at some point in the story? Can't wait to see more_

**We are not planning on pairing Goku up with Bulma. We don't feel that relationship would work quite honestly**_. _

_NatNicole_

_YAY, Gohan and Piccolo's bond is still pretty much like in canon. I'm really glad about that, but feel bad for Goku about Chichi's death. I'm also pleased that Bulma's a friend but not a stepmother to Gohan; and I see you have noticed how things were whenever Gohan trained for new threats. He showed much determination, but only fought Cell in the Cell Games to make his dad happy; similar to what's happening here._

**Their bond is very much like it is canon, minus the kidnapping. Bulma won't be a stepmother to Gohan, we can tell you that much. The difference here is that Gohan ****wants**** to train to make his dad happy. He doesn't know another lifestyle, because Goku trains all the time.**

_Full Power_

_I mean, I'm a little confused as to why Piccolo would take Gohan in as his pupil, but otherwise great start. Nice job keeping everyone IC including Goku...Looking forward to more!_

**We just rewrote this and updated it in Chapter 1. It was our intent that Piccolo notice Gohan's hidden powers and decide to train him and make him into his right hand man when he takes over the world. Also he can't let Goku get ahead by training with Gohan. **

_Super Vegetarott_

_Hey there, you two! I figured I'd drop some feedback on this story after reading it, so here goes:_

- While your story is formatted and written well, something that I constantly seem to notice is that you slip into the present tense often. It isn't an issue if you want to write the story in present tense itself, but you need to decide on one specific tense that you're going to utilize for the ENTIRETY of the fic. Otherwise the writing will seem terribly odd and won't flow that well, resulting in the narration being unclear and not telling the story it can and should.

- A very big problem for me with this fic is that Chi-Chi is literally written off from this story in the first portion of the chapter and then it seems as if she's literally just... done. You literally skipped through the important exposition of the story where we see Goku become a better father, Ox-King and Bulma become more prominent in Gohan's life, and how even Gohan learns that his birth mother died and won't be a part of his life. I feel like you glossed over what could've been at least 4-5 chapters worth of content, and as a result this story seems terribly rushed. I don't mind you killing off Chi-Chi to achieve your goal(even though I like her as a character) of making Gohan more heroic, but if you're going to do such a thing, then you need to make sure you fully commit yourselves into at least going a bit more detail regarding actual life for Goku and Gohan.

- I also want to point out something regarding Piccolo and Gohan's relationship here: why is it needed? Look, I get that you're a fan of their bond(and believe me, I am NO exception to liking the two as friends), but surely there's a better way of going about it than how you did. The way Gohan's life is set up now makes him drastically more powerful/skilled than his 4 year old counterpart, and if he's handed everything he was in canon like this(but at an earlier date), it wouldn't be hard to place him into Sue territory. Personally, I believe that introducing Piccolo and Gohan after the Raditz battle would've made infinitely more sense, as while it did happen in canon, that's also when you could get the best results out of it.

Now, with the criticisms out of the way, I'll get to the pros. It's clear to me that despite the fault I pointed out with your tenses, you know what you're doing when it comes to writing - I applaud you for this. You both have a lot of talent already, and I'm confident that the writing will only improve with due time. Experience is the key to writing a better story, and you're unlocking more of it with each and each chapter. I am interested in seeing this story as a whole, but the lack of focusing in on daily life for the two did hurt this opening chapter. However, I hope you are able to show more of these moments in later chapters, as that will no doubt make this story that much better.

I hope you enjoyed this review!

**Thanks for the feedback. We love to hear from our fellow writers, especially someone who writes as well as you do. **

**We are going to try and keep our tenses correct. **

**The story isn't about Goku becoming a better father, or Chi-Chi's death lasting four or five chapters. It is focused around Gohan. You see that much content, and we are sure that you could do it, but honestly we don't see how we could do it. Our writing talents just don't lay in that direction, and we feel it would slow the story down too much. As for the day to day life for Goku and Gohan, that will be explored more in later chapters, we have no plans of skipping over that. **

**RedHunter87 speaking here, I consulted with a friend who never knew his mother, and he told me that it's hard to miss someone you never knew. He knows of his mom only through stories/video. In our story Gohan has been told of his mother, but at his age he hasn't started to ask detailed questions about her. He knows of his mom only through stories. Part of the reason he studies with Bulma is because hes been told that him being smart will make his mother proud. We mentioned that in chapter one. If you want to know more about plans in this area PM me. **

**We rewrote the Piccolo and Gohan scene based on comments that reviewers made. You should go check it out. Hopefully it conveys our intent better. We couldn't bring them together after the battle, because a different chain of events is going on then what happened in canon. **

**Gohan isn't going to be handed everything, not at all. The upcoming foes are very powerful and will push Gohan to his limits and beyond them. **

**We plan to have a mix of different things going on, not just fighting, but day to day stuff as the story rolls on. We strive to become better writers with each chapter, and we thank you for your honest feedback. Reviews like this help us spot areas that we need to improve in. **

_Kazuma Bushi_

_Our stories have the same title O.o lol_

Chi-Chi's death should have tremendous implications on the story. Personally I can't say she'll be particularly missed be me, she was vexatious in canon to say the least. Being raised almost solely by Goku I could see this effecting his intelligence. Chi-Chi was the one who pushed him hard in his studies and now that she's dead their will probably be a vacuum left behind. Goku isn't exactly the brightest box in the crayon either. But I do suppose you could have Bulma fill in that role.

Piccolo so easily accepting Gohan as his student struck me as odd. It was an interesting way for you to introduce Piccolo to Gohan, but I think you could have made the process take a bit longer. Though I can understand your reasoning for rushing it. Assuming things go similar to how they did in canon, Piccolo won't have to kidnap Gohan this time.

**So they do. Her death will have tremendous implications, her part in this story is not finished. It won't affect his intelligence, because Bulma is teaching him. If anything what he knows will be more practical based then theory based. He won't study as hard, but it will be more focused. **

**We rewrote the Piccolo and Gohan scene. Hopefully it comes off it better this way. **

_Brelic_

_Good story, so far this is an interesting beginning. Keep you the good work, I look forward to what's going to happen next._

**Thank you for reading and for commenting. We hope that you enjoy chapter two as well. **

* * *

_Power levels_

_Raditz: 1,500_

_Raditz (weakened): 1,000_

_Goku: 300_

_Goku (Without weighted clothing): 600_

_Goku (Kamehameha): 750_

_Piccolo: 275_

_Piccolo (Without weighted clothing): 550_

_Piccolo (Special Beam Cannon): 1,500_

_Gohan: 400_

_Gohan (Enraged): 1,600_

_Gohan (Kamehameha): 800_


End file.
